ASEN 2012 Project 1

e582586ec56d1
University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, 80309
This paper provides a description of how a material was identified using temperature
values found through the use of a calorimeter. The methodology included usage of the firstlaw of thermodynamics and least squares extrapolation to determine the specific heat of a
sample material and associated errors. By finding the specific heat value the material was
found to be copper.

Nomenclature
C = specific heat, [J/g *C]
u = Internal energy, [J/g]
m = Mass, [g]
T = Temperature, [C]
! = Initial temperature of calorimeter
! = Initial temperature of sample
! = Final temperature of sample and calorimeter at equilibrium
= Uncertainty

Subscripts
c = calorimeter
s = sample

Table of Contents

II. Experimental Method .......................................................................................................................................... 2
III. Results .................................................................................................................................................................... 3
A. Specific Heat Equation Derivation ............................................................................................................ 3
B. mc, Cc, and ms .................................................................................................................................................. 3
C. T0, T1 and T2 ................................................................................................................................................... 3
D. Error ..................................................................................................................................................................... 5
E. Error in mc, Cc, and ms .................................................................................................................................. 5
F. Error in T0, T1 and T2 .................................................................................................................................... 5
G. Finding Specific Heat .................................................................................................................................... 5
IV. Discussion ............................................................................................................................................................. 5
A. The Samples Material ................................................................................................................................... 5
B. Code Verification ............................................................................................................................................ 5
V. Conclusion .............................................................................................................................................................. 6
Appendix ....................................................................................................................................................................... 7
A. Engineering Approach ................................................................................................................................... 7
B. Code Flow Chart .............................................................................................................................................. 9
C. Code .................................................................................................................................................................. 10
References ................................................................................................................................................................. 13

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I. Introduction

alorimetry is defined as the process of measuring changes in state for the purpose of the deriving
properties of heat transfer. According to Cengel [1] , the specific heat of a material is one of these heat
transfer properties, specific heat is given by the energy required to raise the temperature of a unit mass
of a substance by one degree. Every known material also has a known specific heat that has been tested for
in past experiments.
In the case of this report, the overall approach was to find the specific heat of the unknown substance,
and through comparison with known specific heat values, identify the unknown material.
The first law of thermodynamics shows that the specific heat of the substance can be found through the
knowledge of the specific heat of the calorimeter, initial temperature of the calorimeter and sample, final
temperature of the calorimeter and sample at equilibrium, mass of the calorimeter and mass of the sample.
This equation is as follows:
! =

!! !! (!! !!! )
!! (!! !!! )

(1)

An experiment using a calorimeter and the sample was subsequently conducted to help identify these
values. This experiment effectively provided the mass of the calorimeter and the mass of the sample as
given values. Thus, meaning the main values that necessitated solving for were the temperature values and,
overall, the specific heat.
It should be noted that the approach assumes that the sample combined with the calorimeter is an
adiabatic system. It is also assumed that the change in internal energy of the sample is equal to zero.
Another assumption made it that sample is in equilibrium with the boiling water right before it is placed in
the calorimeter.
Below is a sketch of the problem:

Figure 1: Schematic of the problem

II. Experimental Method

The experiment conducted by the students at CU used the following procedure:

1. Examine the calorimeter, note the calorimeter material and the specific heat property
2. Select the sample and weigh several times to determine an average mass

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3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

Use a thermocouple with software cold-junction compensation to take temperature readings of the
aluminum calorimeter
Obtain good temperature readings by ensuring the thermocouple maintains good contact with the
aluminum calorimeter. Place the thermocouple in the hold provided and secure with high
temperature cotton before replacing the insulation cap.
Immerse the sample in boiling water for 10 minutes
Five minutes before removing the sample from the boiling water, initiate the VI.
Record the temperature of the water directly before removing the sample. Using tongs, shake the
sample and remove excess water. Quickly place it in the calorimeter and seal the calorimeter.
Run the VI for 10 more minutes.
Terminate the program and save the data.

The data received is formatted as an excel file and it records time [s], thermocouple 1[C], thermocouple
2[C] and thermocouple 3[C], as well as temperature of the boiling water [C].

III. Results
A. Specific Heat Equation Derivation
As Eq. (1) was the primary equation utilized for this report, a derivation has been provided:
=
= ! !
! ! = 0
(! !! + ! !! ) (! !! + ! !! ) = 0
(! ! ! + ! ! ! ) (! ! ! + ! ! ! ) = 0
! ! (! ! ) = ! ! (! ! )
! ! (! ! )
! =
! (! ! )
B. , , and
The values of ! , ! , and ! were found through the experiment conducted by the CU students. These
values were given to be the following:
! = 313.5 grams
! = 0.8945 J/(gram* C)
! = 91.75 grams
C. , and
The experiment measured temperature values of an aluminum calorimeter that held the sample for
approximately ten minutes. These temperature values are used to find ! , ! and ! .
All three temperature values were found by utilizing MATLAB in conjunction with the plot on the
following page.

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Figure 2: Graph of calorimeter temperature as a function of time

! was found by using least squares extrapolation to fit a line to the data before the sample was added
(sample was added at approximately 824.86 seconds). The formula for this line is as follows:
. 0001147 + 21.7223

(2)

This line was then extrapolated forward to when the sample was added. By using t = 824.86, Eq. (2)
yields ! = 21.8165C.
! was found by fitting a line to he boiling water temperature data before the sample was removed from
the water. Then by evaluating for when time is 824.86 seconds, ! is found to be 94.1169C.
! was found through a multi-step process: first, a line that fits the data from the maximum temperature
value to the end of the data was created. This line is given by the following equation:
.00034397 + 27.5184

(3)

By extrapolating this line back to when the sample was added, the value !" 824.86 is created.
Averaging this value with ! , which can be called !"# 824.86 , yields 24.5256. An examination of the
graph shows this temperature value happens around 897 seconds. Plugging this value into Eq. (3) gives
! = 27.2099C.

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D. Error

Due to the nature of this experiment, error naturally propagates through, the following is the value of
the errors and an explanation of how they were deduced.
E. Error in , , and
The error in and were given to be 0.05 grams.
The error in was given as a perfect value with no error.
F. Error in , and

The following standard error propagation formula obtained from Taylor [2] was used to find these error values.
! =

!
!
(!
!!! !!!

! )!

(4)

Utilizing Eq. (4) gives the following error values [J/g*C]:

!! = .0604
!! = .523
!! = .0645
G. Finding Specific Heat
By plugging in the found values into Eq. (1) and then multiplying by a conversion factor the specific
heat is found to be .2462 J/g*C.
H. Finding Error in Specific Heat
The following was used to find the overall error in the specific heat:

!! =

!!! !
!!!

!! +

!!! !
!!!

!! +

!!! !
!!!

!! +

!!! !
!!!

!! +

!!! !
!!!

!!

(5)

Using MATLAB and Eq. (5) the overall error was found to be .002293 J/g*C.

IV. Discussion
A. The Samples Material
By comparing the values of the specific heat to the table provided it is easy to deduce that the sample is
composed of Tellurium Copper.
B. Error Analysis
The error does appear to be low, and the value of copper is not technically within the error bounds. This relation
appears to be a result of small relative errors for temperature values and mass uncertainty. This still does not change
the confidence in saying the material is made of copper.
C. Code Verification
Multiple methods were used to ensure the MATLAB code was working correctly. For the loops the first 3
iterations were solved for by hand. While utilizing least-squares regression, the constant values were also solved for

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by hand, to ensure the values were correct. It is easy to say with high certainty that the values found for are correct
and any incorrect measurements are a result of utilization of incorrect formulas.

V. Conclusion

Overall, this lab has shown that the process involved in finding the specific heat, through calorimetry, is an arduous
and intensive process. This lab has also shown that the full usage of a ten-step process is also very intensive.
Combine this with the fact that many assumptions were made to simplify this experiment, it is easy to see that the
science of calorimetry requires exact values and has little to no room for error.

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Appendix
A. Engineering Approach

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B. Code Flow Chart

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C. Code

Main Function
%%%%%%Author's ID: e582586ec56d
%%%%%%Inputs: excel spreadsheet
%%%%%%Outputs: specific heat
%%%%%%Purpose: Main function for project 1, ASEN 2012
%%%%%%Created: 10/13
%%%%%%Modified: 10/25
function [specificheatconverted,errorconverted] = Main(inputfile)
%Reads excel spreadsheet into an input file
A=xlsread(inputfile);
%This function finds t0,t1,t2
[t0,t1,t2,uncertainty0,uncertainty1, uncertainty2]=temperaturefinder(A);
%Defining variables
mc = 313.50; %m of calorimeter (grams)
cc = 0.214; %specific heat of calorimeter (calories)
ms= 91.75; %m of sample
%This formula calculates the specific heat as all variables have been found
specificheat=(mc*cc*(t2-t0))/(ms*(t1-t2));
%Uses error function to find error
error=errorfind(t0,t1,t2,specificheat,mc,ms,uncertainty0,uncertainty1,
uncertainty2);
%Converts to J/kg*C
specificheatconverted=specificheat*4.18;
errorconverted=error*4.18;
%Prints the converted valeus
fprintf('The specific heat is %f J/kg*C\n',specificheatconverted)

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fprintf('The error is %f J/kg*C',errorconverted)

end
Temperature Finder Function
%%%%%%Author's ID: e582586ec56d
%%%%%%Inputs: matrix A
%%%%%%Outputs: t0, t1, t2, uncertainty0, uncertainty1, uncertainty2
%%%%%%Purpose: Finds many important and necessary values for project 1, ASEN
2012
%%%%%%Created: 10/15
%%%%%%Modified: 10/20
function [t0,t1,t2,uncertainty0,uncertainty1,uncertainty2] =
temperaturefinder(A)
%Creates a matrix of just the temperature values (columns 2,3,4)
TempMat = [A(:,2) A(:,3) A(:,4)];
%Finds average temperature at time value by summing rows of temperature
%matrix, then puts this average value back into the main matrix
TempSum= sum(TempMat,2);
TempAverage = TempSum/3;
A(:,6)= TempAverage;
%Plots average temperature as a function of time
plot(A(:,1),A(:,6),'.y')
xlabel('Time (s)');
ylabel('Temperature(Celcius)'); %Note: The graph tells us the sample is added
at approximately 824.86 seconds
title('Calorimeter as a function of time');
hold on;
%Uses polyfit to fit a line to pre-sample temperature data (row 808 is
%sample addition, so row 807 is before the sample is added)
[presample,s]=polyfit(A(1:807,1),A(1:807,6),1);
Aval=presample(2);
Bval=presample(1);
y = Bval*A(1:808,1)+Aval;
%Plots the polyfit just found
plot(A(1:808),y,'LineWidth',2);
%Note extrapolated temperature at t = 824.86 and mark on graph
TBSample=824.86;
%This is t low(824.86)
%Use polyval to evaluate the value of t low
tlow= polyval(presample,A(808,1),s);
t0=tlow;
plot(TBSample,tlow,'o')
%Calculate the uncertainty of t0 using the general formula
sigma=0;
for i=1:808
term=((A(i,6)-Aval-Bval*A(i,1))).^2;

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sigma= term+sigma;
end
uncertainty0= sqrt(sigma/805);
%Finds the high temperature and where it occurs
%%%%%
%This section was used to find the high temperature and where it occurred
%high = sortrows(A,6); %This will put the row with the highest T at the
bottom of the A matrix
%hight= high(1800,1); %1134.8 ROW 1113
%highTemp=high(1800,6); %27.1233
%%%%%
%Fit a line from Thigh to end
[decline,s]=polyfit(A(1113:1800,1),A(1113:1800,6),1);
%Extrapolate back to when sample was added
BvalD=decline(1);
AvalD=decline(2);
y= BvalD*A(808:1800,1)+AvalD;
plot(A(808:1800),y,'r','LineWidth',2);
Thigh=decline(1)*TBSample+decline(2);
plot(TBSample,Thigh,'+m')
average= (Thigh+tlow)/2; %Value is 24.5256 degrees
%Through looking at the graph I see this value happens around 897 seconds
plot(TBSample,average,'*c')
%Now I extrapolate using polyval to find temperature at T2, as well as the
uncertainy at this value,by using the
%decline polyfit
[t2]=polyval(decline,897,s);
plot(897,t2,'ok')
%Find uncertainty in t2 through general formula
sigma=0;
for i = 1:687
measured=A(i+1112,6);
predicted = polyval(decline,i+1112);
term = (measured-predicted).^2;
sigma= term+sigma;
end
uncertainty2= sqrt(sigma/685);
%t1 is found by averaging the boiling water temperature before removal of
%the sample
sumBoil=0;
for i=1:808
sumBoil=sumBoil+A(i,5);
end
%Error is given by finding the uncertainty t1 in the standard deviation of
the
%data set
t1=sumBoil/808;
uncertainty1= std(A(1:808,5));

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%Legend for plot

legend('Data points','bestfit line (pre-sample)','T0','bestfit line
(decline)','Thigh','average','t2','location','best')
end
Error Find Function
%%%%%%Author's ID: e582586ec56d
%%%%%%Inputs: T0,T1,T2,specificheat,massC,massS,uncertainty0, uncertainty1,
uncertainty2
%%%%%%Outputs: error in specific heat
%%%%%%Purpose: Finds the error in the specific heat for Project 1, ASEN 2012
%%%%%%Created: 10/15
%%%%%%Modified: 10/20
function error = errorfind(T0,T1,T2,specificheat,massC,massS,uncertainty0,
uncertainty1, uncertainty2)
%All solved for by hand and hard coded in
partialT1 = -(massC*specificheat*(T2-T0))/(massS*(T1-T2)^2);
partialT2 = (massC*specificheat*(T1-T0))/(massS*(T1-T2)^2);
partialT0 = -(massC*specificheat)/(massS*(T1-T2));
partialCc = (massC*(T2-T0))/(massS*(T1-T2));
partialMc = (specificheat*(T2-T0))/(massS*(T1-T2));
partialMs = -(massS*specificheat*(T2-T0))/(((massS^2))*(T1-T2));
%Calculating uncertainty in the specific heat of the sample
error =
sqrt((partialT1^2)*uncertainty1+(partialT2^2)*uncertainty2+(partialT0^2)*unce
rtainty0+(partialCc^2)*0+(partialMc^2)*0.05+(partialMs^2)*0.05);

References
[1] engel, Y. A., Cimbala, J. M., & Turner, R. H., Fundamentals of thermal-fluidsciences,. 4th edition
[2] Taylor, John R. An Introduction to Error Analysis: The Study of Uncertainties in Physical Measurements. Mill
Valley, Calif: University Science Books,

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